In U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,746,328 and 3,853,361 there has been disclosed a hydrostatic bearing structure for tiltable converters or the like in which oil under high pressure is admitted to pockets (referred to as fluid bearing pads) on an inner peripheral surface of an annular bearing block surrounding a sleeve on the shaft which is to be rotatably supported. The sleeve and the bearing block may or may not be relatively shiftable in the axial direction, depending on whether the bearing is of the fixed type or the expansion type.
In order to minimize the outward leakage of high-pressure oil along the confronting surfaces between the sleeve and the bearing block, the gap existing in operation between these surfaces should be as narrow as possible.
During rotation, the sleeve hugging the shaft tends to heat up more rapidly than the surrounding bearing block which is cooled not only by the atmosphere but also by the circulating oil. This unequal expansion results in a relative deformation of the confronting surfaces which may, therefore, come into physical contact with each other, particularly near the bottom of the bearing. Such metal-to-metal contact can be prevented only by the use of a very high pumping pressure which also must take into account the unavoidable manufacturing tolerances of the bearing members.